An examination of aspects of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) from a scientific perspective.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Animal mutilations in the Adelaide Hills?

Hi all,

Linda Moulton Howe:
A while ago, US researcher Linda Moulton Howe asked me if I had come across details of a 1984, South Australian animal mutilation story. The story, as circulating on the Internet ( e.g. click here , here, and here ) tells of animal mutilations set in the Adelaide Hills.

As many blog readers will be aware, Linda Moulton Howe has been one of the lead investigators into possible links between UAP and animal mutilations, between the 1980's and the present. Indeed, her Earthfiles website (click here) continues to present recent information about the topic.

I had heard some details about the story Linda was chasing, and by coincidence I am currently holidaying on a property near Mount Barker in the Adelaide Hills, which was the central location in which the Internet stories are set. I was also aware of a version of the story, which appeared in the Melbourne "Truth" newspaper dated 21 July 1984. However, at the time of Linda's inquiry, I was not aware of anyone who had conducted an investigation into the story. However, a few days ago, while in the State Library of South Australia, I came across an article by someone in Adelaide who had actually conducted an in-depth investigation and published their findings. This post will provide details of this investigation.

Enter Paul Burton:
The article I found was written by one Paul Burton, and appeared in the August 1984 issue of the "Australian International UFO Flying Saucer Research" magazine. pages 10-15.

It tells how, on 11 June 1984, a caller to a radio talk-back show on Adelaide station 5DN, whom Paul nominates by the letter "J" broke the story. "J's" account, in part, reads:

"...happened last night or earlier this morning." At Mount Barker. "This is through a friend. They were called in there by the Army or Air Force...First the Air Force noted a blip on their radar screen...they got a call from a farmer...found four cows lying dead on the ground with what appeared to be a drill hole over their right eye, and they did an autopsy on the cows and they found that they had no brains...they found...three or four, egg shaped indentations on the ground...there was radiation in the area and they noticed the top of the trees had been burnt and there was some dead birds..."

Investigation:
On 12 June 1984, Burton commenced his investigation. He contacted the RAAF and the Army but failed to find anyone who knew of the story. On 21 June 1984 Burton visited a reporter working for the "Courier" newspaper, which is the local newspaper covering the Mount Barker and surrounding areas. The paper also had no knowledge of the story.

Burton located and interviewed the talk back radio caller, "J." "J" said that he had been badgered by the media since speaking of the story, but repeated to Burton, what he, "J," had told the 5DN talk back show.

Another radio station, 5KA, via a talk back caller, heard of the story, and broadcast it. Burton then again re-interviewed "J." On this occasion, with "J" was a female friend, Burton calls "K." It turned out that it was "K" who had heard the story from an individual Burton calls "B." It was "B" who claimed to be the original source of the entire story, and "B" claimed to have been a party to the event itself, i.e. a first hand participant.

However, Burton informs us that he was never able to locate and interview "B" the original source of the whole account. Burton notes that therefore, he was unable to really investigate properly.

Blog readers, should therefore be aware that this entire account of animal mutilations in the Adelaide Hills is actually based on a third hand story. There is, unfortunately, no way to verify the account as having any veracity, unless some blog reader knows of the identity of "B" and we are able to secure some original documentation of the event from "B."

Birdwood:
Five years earlier, a similar account had been recorded, again in the Adelaide Hills region of the state of South Australia. I found this second account in the May 1979 number 3 edition of the "Australian International UFO Flying Saucer Research" magazine, page 18.

The mother and girlfriend, of an Adelaide Hills farmer, saw a UFO which appeared to have landed. He went to the location and found burn marks in a paddock of lush, 100mm high clover. He found three very distinct burn/scorch marks 2-3 metres in length in the grass.

"Directly in the centre of these marks lay the body of a beheaded lamb. On examination, the head was found removed by a very sharp instrument. There was no tearing of the skin or wool. There was an incision made from the chest to the top of the throat and the heart, lungs and arteries had been carefully removed. No grass had regrown on the burnt patches. The site was at Birdwood, just behind the Old Railway Station and near a black water tank." It is unclear just what level of investigation, if any, was undertaken or whether or not the above was simply the report as claimed by the farmer.